ANSWER
There was a knock at the door. Then another knock. John walked to the door and looked through the peephole. It was a man wearing a large brimmed hat and a jacket, soaked through. John was confused, it hasn’t rained in a couple days and they were in the middle of a heat wave. The man knocked again.
“Who is it?” John said.
“John, we need to talk.” The voice shot back. It sounded familiar in a way that John couldn’t place. Before he could say or do anything, the door unlocked itself. John jumped back in shock. He ran out of the small hallway and headed toward the kitchen, looking for a weapon. The door opened as John grabbed a knife. ‘Do I have time to get my gun?’ He thought to himself. He didn’t have time, the man was already in the apartment, closing the door behind him.
“Who are you? I’m calling the cops!” John said, holding the chef’s knife in his right hand.
“Freeze it, broby. Put that noise on the back back.” The words sort of made sense, but didn’t. And the voice, it was clearer now, very familiar but different at the same time. The man stood in front of John, soaking wet, arms up in the air, but then flapping down like he’s patting something in the air, then back up again. He had just stepped in from a massive storm, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky in John’s hometown of Harbor City.
“Who are you? You’ve got 5 seconds or I’m calling the cops.” John said, more curious than afraid at this point. If this guy wanted him dead, he’d have shot by now.
“How long is 5 seconds? Is that a lot?” The voice sounded genuinely confused.
“No. It’s already passed since you came in my kitchen. Who are you?” John said. The wet man took off his hat.
He looked just like…
“What the fuck?” John said.
“First sensible thing you’ve said since I got here.” The man said back to John. In John’s voice. From John’s face. He looked just like John, just a little…off. “I don’t have a blarge of time, so I have to make this quick. You’re me and I’m you, from parallel Earths. More or less. Mind if I sit?” The man said slowly lowering his arms and grabbing one of John’s dining chairs. Before John could say anything in protest, the man sat down and put his hat on the table.
John just sat there dumbfounded for a moment before the wet man motioned for him to sit at the table with him.
“C’mon, I won’t bite and I won’t zarf ya. Sit, please. If that last part didn’t make sense, I’m still learning your language. I didn’t have time to absorb it properly.” The wet man said, pushing some hidden button on his coat, splitting it open like a zipper.
“What’s going on?” John said as he sat down.
“My name is Bonham. I come from a parallel Earth. I came looking for you because I need you to do me a favor.”
“Parallel world?” John said.
“Yes. Please don’t get hung up on that, we don’t have time. The more I speak, the more I understand your language. Short, short version. Technology is amazing, world hopping exists, time travel exists. I come from, well it doesn’t matter what my universe is called. My Jumper says you’re on Earth 32Gamma68, Subsector 54.18980.094145. I can get more specific, but that’s not important. The multiverse is levels of infinite that make your brain hurt. I didn’t have time to study the differences between your universe and mine, but we don’t usually come to these primitive backwater pieces of shit like yours. But I didn’t have a choice, I needed you to help me.” Bonham said, talking a mile a minute.
“Me? How?” John said. Bonham reached into his jacket and pulled out a small yellow rock. It glowed in his hands. He placed it on the table and slid it over to John. It stopped abruptly in front of him, almost like the rock stopped of its own will.
“What is this?” John asked, unsure what to do next.
“Let’s call it a Mindstone. It’s some old and illegal tech where I come from. I borrowed it for a job.” Bonham said as he sealed his jacket back up.
“Wait, what?”
“Long story. Job was a combover from start to finish. Now, I have to hide this, but I need to use it again in a few…what do you call them? DAYS! That’s right, days. I’m getting better at this English thing.” Bonham smiled, proud of himself for how quickly he picked up this primitive tongue.
“Why me? Us?” John asked, still unsure if he should touch the yellow stone.
“The Mindstone is old tech. It takes a while to acclimate to the user, it’s based off of DNA sequences. The longer a person holds it, the more it becomes one with them and the less they need the stone, but if another person takes possession it breaks that old connection. And you know what we have in common?”
“We have the same DNA?” John said.
“It’s close enough. There’s some minor differences like radiation damage in your atmosphere and different diseases we’re each exposed to, but for where it counts, we’re the same person. Of course, only one way to tell. Go ahead, touch it.” Bonham motioned to the Mindstone.
John hesitated for a moment before picking it up. It glowed yellow, staying the same brightness it was before. He felt a surge run through him, exciting and scaring him at the same time. He looked at Bonham and heard…something. No, he saw something now. Thoughts and images coming to him. He couldn’t understand any of it beyond the mundane, but the gist of it made sense.
Bonham smiled. “Good, it’s keyed to both of us. Keep it with you all times. Don’t let anyone else hold it and use it for anything more than a brief moment, as it will slowly cut the connection. The more they use it, the less we can use it until it dies. I need this in 3 of my days, so I’ll come back here soon. Maybe tonight, tomorrow, a moon time, whatever. Time’s kinda fucky that way.”
“What does it do?” John asked. Bonham shook his head.
“It’s the MINDSTONE! Think about it.” Bonham exasperated.
“How does it work?” John asked.
“Ask it.” Bonham said as he looked at his left hand. Weird writing that John couldn’t read came up on his hand but he could faintly hear Bonham curse to himself.
“What’s going on?” John asked, thinking he already knew the answer.
“I have to go. Ask the stone how it works. Or don’t. I’ll be back soon. Don’t do anything too crazy, don’t try to take over the world or shit like that, they’ll see it.” He said as he grabbed his hat and stood up. John got up to follow him to ask what trouble he was in, but before he could, Bonham left, walking through the door. He didn’t open it, he just walked right through it, like it wasn’t there. As soon as Bonham passed through the door, he couldn’t hear any more thoughts.
John sat back down in his chair, the table still a little wet from Bonham’s hat. He played with the Mindstone in his hand.
“How does this work?” John said to himself.
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